CHF-18 Legionnaire
The Centauri Heavy Fighter design #18 was developed by a joint design team of Centauri, Kuat and Ilium corporations to be the Republic next heavy fighter. Her outer hull and engines were designed made by Ilium shipyards. Her internal systems were designed and built by Kuat Drive Yards and her weapons and stealth skin were installed by the Centauri Warrior Cast. As stated before, she's manufactured with a skin made of Sensor absorbent material that will hide her from most conventional sensors. She also comes equipped with an exhaust storage system to hide her trail and a group of electronic sensor jammers to scramble incoming sensors. She was originally designed to be the main fighter deployed by the Lysander-class Deep Space Carrier but were later slated to become the replacements for the aging Aurek fighters as the Republic primary war horse. Weapon Systems *4 Heavy Laser cannons **one on each wingtip and two under the cockpit *8 Missile hard points **15,000 pound load **two, 3 missile pylons under the wings. Two hard points under the fuselage. The Laser cannons on the wingtips can swivel slightly at their base allowing them to focus on targets closer in and hit the same general area as the laser cannons mounted on her nose. It also allows her to fire a wider spread of laser fire at longer range do wide spread damage to a starship hull or formation of enemy fighters. Her 8 missile hardpoints can hold just about any kind of missile scaled for fighter sized ships but the fighter itself can only carry a 15,000 pound payload before she begins to have structural problems from accelerating the extra mass along with the fighter itself. Since the missiles are mounted on pylons, it also means the fighter can launch all 8 missiles at once to deploy it's payload quickly, taking advantage of the element of surprise. Sensor Suite *10,000 kilometer standard radar system. *Forward arc ground scanning radar. *Identify Friend or Foe Transponder Receiver. *Infrared imaging HUD. The fighters sensors designed to put out a little sensor waves as possible to maintain it's stealth field. Rather it uses more absorption sensors which allow it to pick up the energy put out by other ships. Because it doesn't emit the standard amount of sensor waves, it's radar is less accurate but can be modified from the cockpit to act like a normal radar, at the cost of part of it's stealth field. Stealth Systems The hull of the fighter is 1/4 inch Stygian-triprismatic polymer. The skin of the ship is covered in 1/8 inch fiberplast. The Stygian-triprismatic polymer provides the first layer and most basic form of stealth for the craft. The polymer absorbs EM radiation on most frequencies and wavelengths which serve to hide it from sensors. The hull also absorbs any EM waves the interior of the craft itself gives off. The fiberplast coating around the hull further serves to absorb incoming EM waves. Near the engines is a heat sink which absorbs a lot of the heat the engines generate, dispersing it through the crafts large wing span hiding it even further from infrared detection. in the rear of the craft, between the engines and below the shield generator is a gravitic modulator, which scrambles the readings of any mass detection systems an enemy might use. At long ranges the Gravitic Modulator even hides the crafts mass signature all together. At short ranges the GM makes the craft appear smaller then it actually is, like a chunk of space debris. When activated at full power, the GM's scramble mass detectors all together, making them unable to ascertain the exact position of the craft. Within the wings, where a normal fighter would store it's weapons, the craft houses a series of sensor negation devices that scatter sensor waves near the craft to make them easier to absorb and to knock some of them off into space. Together, the stealth systems protect the ship from long range detection as long as the pilot keeps energy output to a minimum. Firing the laser cannons or shooting off a missile will give away the fighters position, and at extreme close ranges the ship will show up as a blip much smaller then the fighter actually is. Operations The Legionnaire is a heavy fighter/bomber. It's designed for short range deployments by the Lysander-class deep space carrier but it can be deployed from any ship or planet. It's wings allow it to fly in atmosphere and her two ion drives giver her a moderate acceleration to weight ratio in space. Her wafer thin profile makes her tough to hit from the front or rear giving her a slight advantage in dogfights. She was built as a fighter/bomber, able to engage in dogfights and also be tasked to assault larger corvettes and frigates, or even destroyers and carriers when deployed in the right numbers. As a secondary roll, she was designed with stealth systems so she could approach a vessel by stealth and attack it's external subsystems before the enemy gets a chance to raise their shields. Later in its development another mission was added to the design. The republic lacked a sufficient ground support fighter for their special operations teams and other troops on the ground. A Ground scanning radar was added to the fighter to help her located friendly and enemy vehicles as well as prominent landmarks. Cockpit The best part about the Legionnaire is that, being designed by three different corporations on three different planets with three different cultures, she's remarkably easy to learn how to fly. Ease of use was one of the primary design features. The cockpit has a basic flight stick design with three buttons and a scroll ball. One button is the primary fire button. The next cycles through the weapon systems. The third button and scroll ball are used to cycle through the various options on the HUD's menu display for controlling life support, engine systems, shields and the various other systems on the fighter. The communications board is to the left, the sensor displays are in the middle and the mechanical and electrical systems controls are all on the right. Etheric rudder controls are in foot peddles. CHF-18B The CHF-18B Legionnaire II is a variation on the original design. The Legionnaire II is a more long range fighter which is equipped with extra fuel and a hyperdrive. It's cockpit is also extended in order to fit a second person who acts as the fighters navigator, operations specialist and extra set of eyes. To make room for the hyperdrive and extra fuel, the two nose mounted laser cannons were removed along with their internal components. Even with the removed equipment the fighter's average acceleration is much slower then the original fighter but with the increas in fuel reserve it can use it's afterburner much longer to achieve much higher speeds then the original. It missile payload and stealth systems remain unchanged as well.